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Government pumps £20m into using tech to fight addiction
Funding grants from Innovate UK will be used for medical technologies and digital tools such as artificial intelligence and wearables to reduce substance misuse and addiction
The government has launched £20m worth of grants for technology to help fight drug and alcohol addiction in the UK.
The funding, which will be delivered through Innovate UK, aims to support the development and use of technologies that can improve treatment and reduce harm and death from substance misuse.
The government envisions awarding grants to both earlier-stage innovations, with awards up to £1.5m for projects to demonstrate initial effectiveness; and late-stage projects – expected to be close to deployment – with awards up to £10m to help with market readiness and regulatory approval.
Health minister Zubir Ahmed said that addiction ruins lives, and new technologies could help the recovery of “hundreds of thousands of people”.
“Embracing new technology will help supplement all the work this government is already doing, including expanding access to vital drugs and providing billions in funding for drug and alcohol prevention treatment and recovery,” he said. “Finding new ways to combat the scourge of addiction could save thousands of lives and billions of pounds.”
The government will consider all types of technology, including wearables, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality therapies, apps and medical devices, as well as new medicines.
According to the government, around 15,000 people in the UK die due to alcohol and drugs each year, and the effects of drugs and alcohol cost the government around £47bn annually.
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The Addiction Healthcare Goals (AHG) Catalysing Innovation Awards, part of a programme led by the Office for Life Sciences, aims to support those working on new treatments enabled by technology.
“Cutting-edge medicines and technologies could save thousands of lives lost to alcohol and drug addiction, while improving outcomes for hundreds of thousands more,” said science minister Patrick Vallance. “Backing both late‑stage technologies and earlier‑stage innovations means we are creating a clear and rapid route from breakthrough ideas to real‑world impact.
“This is about using the UK’s scientific excellence to prevent avoidable deaths and support recovery, while helping innovative companies to grow and thrive in the UK at the same time.”
Applications for the grants are now open, and successful projects will receive access to an education session from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on how to navigate evidence requirements to get UK certification, approval and roll-out.
The government hopes that embedding this support will increase the likelihood of innovations actually being adopted effectively and can deliver real benefits for patients, services and communities.
In December 2025, the MHRA launched a consultation on how to regulate AI technologies in the NHS while keeping patients safe.
The input will inform the work of the recently created National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare, which advises the MHRA on the future of health AI regulation.
In 2023, 12 projects, including wearables and sensor technologies, were awarded a share of £5m to tackle fatal drug overdoses. These are currently on the market, helping to improve detection of overdoses and facilitating earlier intervention.
